The present invention relates to a multi-core box apparatus for making hollow mineral products, particularly foundry shell cores, using either the novel, heatless process described and claimed in my prior application, Ser. No. 939,660 filed Sept. 5, 1978, now abandoned, to which further reference may be made, or the well-known thermal or Croning process.
Since the heatless process, as of the present time, is quite new and, therefore, is not implemented in the foundry industry, there are no specialized types of equipment known at the present time, except an experimental unit, which, in essence, is a modified adaptation of existing apparatus, for carrying into practice the Croning process. All of the existing apparatus have at least five fundamental disadvantages, namely: low productivity rate resulting from performance of all operations in sequence within one single core box; the necessity for a turntable cradle on which the core box is mounted; the necessity for a sand return system from a hopper under the core box to a hopper over the core box, which system is particularly bulky and costly; the area around the core box is congested and is not readily accessible since all of the machine parts participating in the execution of the process directly have to be concentrated around that one, single core box; and the new heatless process cannot be carried into practice.
In contrast to the apparatus of the prior art, the apparatus of the present invention: is free from these disadvantages; has a significantly higher productivity rate; requires no cradle; need no sand return system; has easy access to the core boxes with simple, convenient design of tooling; and is suitable for both the old thermal Croning process and the new heatless process.